Laura-Chase McGehee, a freelance photographer and former Annapolis Capital newspaper journalist, said the plane landed in Philadelphia at about 6 p.m. and that no one appeared to be injured. BWI's website confirmed that the flight was diverted to Philadelphia International Airport and officials referred comment to JetBlue Airways.

McGehee said that passengers on flight 827 smelled smoke in the cabin, though none was obviously visible. A flight attendant, whom McGehee described as shaken but competent, prepared the plane for an emergency landing and most everyone on the nearly-full flight kept calm, she said.

JetBlue officials confirmed the emergency landing, saying 95 passengers and 4 crew members were on board.

"In an abundance of caution, the captain elected to divert, after the crew reported an odor of smoke in the cabin," JetBlue's statement said. "The flight landed at 5:53 p.m. and all customers and crew were safely evacuated with no injuries reported. The customers are being reaccommodated on a later JetBlue flight."

McGehee, of Baltimore, said she had just photographed a wedding in Boston and worried her client's pictures would be destroyed if the plane crashed.

"It was scary," she said. "You don't really know how that's going to end, especially when you're going to descend at that rate."

The situation was handled professionally, said McGehee. The passengers left the plane on inflatable slides and were taken off the runway by bus, she said. Only one person appeared to be crying through the ordeal.

"Several times I've been asked if I'm OK, which has really been appreciated," McGehee said.

The plane diversion disrupted other flights scheduled out of BWI on Sunday, and through its Twitter account, JetBlue said it may offer those passengers credit for the delay.

Federal officials seized $44,783 from a Nigerian man traveling through Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport for what officials said was a violation of currency reporting regulations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday.

Sen. Ben Cardin has emerged as a central figure in the debate over the pending nuclear deal with Iran, joining a small group of lawmakers who could decide the future of one of President Barack Obama's most significant foreign policies.

After 10 people were shot — seven of them in one incident — overnight in Baltimore following the city's most violent month in decades, police announced Sunday that 10 federal agents will embed with the city's homicide unit for the next two months.